The Hero We Deserve...Finally..."The LEGO Batman Movie"

The Lego Batman Movie (2017)

Rated PG

Starring  Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, Zach Galifinanakis,

Directed by Chris McKay

The Story:

Its seems as though decades of fighting Batman (Arnett) are taking their toll on the Joker (Galifinanakis) because Batman refuses to acknowledge that the Joker is his # 1 enemy. So a change in the Joker's motives might prove to be Batman, and Gotham's undoing. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne (Arnett) adopted an orphan named Dick Grayson (Cera) quite by mistake. Now he's bonding with him the best way he knows how, as Batman!

Oops. Sorry about that spoiler right there.

:)

Finally.

After at least 7 big screen incarnations, Warner Brothers has finally given us a Batman movie worth watching.

It's fun, it's exciting, it's irreverent.

It never takes itself too seriously, yet takes itself seriously enough.

The voice talent does an incredible job inhabiting their roles. The nice part, nobody has a distinctive voice that overshadows the actual character they are playing.

Hopefully they can find a way to do another sequel or two to this one, because this is one DC cinematic universe worth visiting.

Final Grade: B+

Stick To The Cartoons..."Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

Rated PG-13

Starring Megan Fox, Will Arnett, William Fichtner, Tohoru Masamune

Directed by Johnathan Liebesman

The Story:

Shredder (Masamune) and his Foot Clan are terrorizing New York City. However, there are apparently some vigilantes that are standing up for what's right. Reporter April O'Neil (Fox) follows them and discovers that they are giant turtles.

But not just any turtles.

They are teenage mutant ninja turtles.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Turtle franchise, this movie was unleashed on the world last year.

Looking at the trailer, I couldn't help but think to myself, "this looks terrible."

My instincts were not wrong.

I turned over guest-reviewer status to my girls who saw the film, and they enjoyed it.

I worry about the taste in movies of my girls.

:)

I think a lot of it is the joy of seeing your childhood heroes brought to the big screen.

I get that.

Tell me I don't gush each time Marvel Studios releases a new movie! :)

This isn't the turtles I grew up on.

Heck, this isn't the latest revival on Nickelodeon which is actually pretty good.

No, this is something entirely different.

Having endured the film, I'm still not exactly sure what it was.

However, good isn't one of the words I will use.

I want to say there were approximately 3 amusing lines in the entire movie, and I believe they all belonged to Mikey.

No, this train wreck just kept adding more and more to the screen, apparently hoping to simply overwhelm the viewer with CGI and Megan Fox.

Don't get me started on her, but as I've mentioned previously, once she left the Transformers franchise, the films started to get better.

I guess I'll wait for her to leave this franchise on the 3rd film?


Final Grade: D+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: No, I won't be buying this film, not even if they beg.  I had several audible gasps when I warned them that this film is officially eligible for Turkey of the Year honors.

Sorry kids, this was awful.

"When In Rome" You Might Meet Your True Love

When In Rome (2010)

Rated PG-13

Starring Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Anjelica Huston, Will Arnett, Jon Heder, Dax Shepard, Alexis Dziena, Danny DeVito

Directed by Mark Johnson

The Story:

Beth (Bell) attends the wedding of her sister (Dziena) in Rome.  She takes some coins from The Fountain of Love which causes the men (Arnett, Heder, Shepard, DeVito) who threw those coins into the fountain to fall madly in love with her.  Can she balance her career with the affections of these men as she tries to figure out a way to break the spell, and maybe realize that the one guy not under a spell (Duhamel) could be her Mr. Right?

This is a fun little romantic comedy that is light, breezy and easy to enjoy at any time.

I've seen it a few times, and it's one that even the kids enjoy watching when it's on.

Bell gets to play the leading lady, and has a fun time playing the romantic, harried lead against a host of different leading men.

Arnett, Heder and Shepard bring different levels of zaniness to their roles giving Bell the hardest time trying to brush them off.

DeVito brings a level of humanity and sadness to his part.

At the end of the day though, it's Duhamel who grounds the movie as the potential suitor who gets overlooked too often.

Mr. Right is often there, people are often just too busy with their lives to notice.

Final Grade: B+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I own it, and it gets watched every so often.  Always a fun time.

Everything Really Is Awesome... "The Lego Movie"

The Lego Movie (2014)

Rated PG

Starring Chris Pratt, Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Will Ferrell, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson

Directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller

The Story:

Emmet Brickowski (Pratt) is an everyday, ordinary Lego builder.  He goes about his business, never realizing that he is... "The Special".  Yes, prophesied to stop the superweapon, the Kragle from being used by Lord Business (Ferrell) destroying the many Lego realms.  Teaming to help Emmet on his quest are Wyldestyle (Banks) and Batman (Arnett).

Want a fun movie that is great for all ages?

Look no further.

Naturally, for those of us that were kids at one point, Legos are no stranger to our lives.  The bricks can create almost anything you can imagine.

As the years have passed, the sets have gotten cooler, and now there are Legos to reflect pretty much any pop culture obsession.

Way cool for kids.

Possibly even cooler for parents.

Which becomes the crux of the conflict of The Lego Movie.

It seems that Lord Business is more familiar of an enemy than you realize as the movie unfolds, but I don't want to spoil it for those who have not seen the film yet.

The voice cast in the film is amazing.  Pratt is overshadowed by the more famous Legos and/or voices, but that's to be expected for his character. However he brings the heart and soul to the movie along with some pretty good comedy gags.

Batman could easily be seen as the star of this film, and it's easily the best Batman film from DC...

Ever.

:)

This beautiful 3D film is above and beyond all of the previous Lego movies that they've released.

That said, those movies were all pretty darn fun on their own merits.

Combine these films with the stellar Lego videogames, and you begin to realize that a simple building block has reimagined itself for the 21st Century.

They aren't going anywhere, and the future looks very bright for this franchise.

The movie is so good, you can almost forgive all those times you step on a Lego barefoot at 2 AM in the house.

Almost.

:)

Final Grade: A-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Add this to the other great Lego offerings.  I imagine this will find its way into our house by Christmas.

The Wave Of Underwhelming Animation Continues..."The Nut Job"

The Nut Job (2014)
Rated PG

Starring Will Arnett, Brendan Fraser, Liam Neeson, Katherine Heigl

Directed by Peter Lepeniotis

The Story:

Things are looking bleak in the City Park as the animals were unable to store enough food for winter.  Raccoon (Neeson) the leader, sends Grayson (Fraser) and Andie (Heigl), two of the smartest squirrels out to get the nuts from a local peanut vendor.  However Surly (Arnett) and his mouse pal Remy...no wait...Buddy... are already casing the joint.  Things get complicated when the nut vendors turn out to be bank robbers planning a heist.

Ooo!

An animated heist film.

And you all know what a fan of heist films I am.

I will also give credit, the heist that the humans are planning is pretty ingenious.

It's just a lot of tediousness of getting to the heist that bogs this one down for me.

There's not a whole lot to the main story, so there's a romantic entanglement between Andie and Surly and the treachery of one of their own from the park.

I know... the horror!

The animation is okay.  This is a throwback to the 50s, and that works really well.

The animals themselves though... eh ... I've seen better designs.

Like I said at the beginning, take a look at the mouse best pal.  He's a cross between Pinky and Remy from Ratatouille.

Again, I hate to be overly harsh as I think this is the first feature from this studio.

It's an okay first effort, and hopefully they can build on it.

Final Grade: C-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I would pass on both of these options.

Let's Get Hairy! "Mansome"

How manly are you?


The Story:

This documentary takes a look at men.  How manly are we? What do beards, moustaches and constant grooming say about men as a whole? 


Unlike Morgan Spurlock's usual documentaries, this one plays more as a star-filled comedy documentary.

You have Jason Bateman and Will Arnett doing some schtick at a health spa to break up the segments within the documentary.  I guess when you sign up as Executive Producers, you get what you want, though their bits are too long, and not nearly as funny as they should be, or as they probably think they were.

Then you have the following interviewed:

Judd Apatow
Adam Carolla
Zach Galifianakis
Paul Rudd

So this isn't man in the street territory.

The documentary itself is also a bit uneven in presentation.  Spurlock is heavily invested and seen in the first segment (moustaches) and then completely disappears for the rest of the film.  Odd to say the least, and so unlike any other documentary that I've seen him present.

The second segment on beards is overly long, painfully paced, and stars a guy that really is hard to care about since his only passion in life is having a great beard...but when you stack him against the competition at beard competitions (really???) his beard just doesn't look that great.  It's simply long.

It picks up again after that with showing what wrestlers have to endure to basically be completely shaved to do their jobs correctly.  Man, that's got to suck.

Then it gets an overlong metrosexual finale with perhaps the vainest "man" on the planet.  Likely not, but again, like the beard, too long, and the character much less interesting.


It's amusing at times, and indeed an interesting topic.

However when you average out the great with the so-so...

Final Grade: C
Would I Own It: Nah, I'm good.


Available for streaming on Netflix as of this writing.